Adult and juvenile rats end
up in rescue for many reasons. Some have behaviour problems, especially biting.
These issues can arise from excess male hormones (superdominance), lack of
handling as babies (fear), or acquired bad habits (biting to get a desired
result).

Using a simple, structured
approach, you can form a new social bond of trust with your rescue rat.

You can't explain things to
a rat, so you must show the rat you can be his friend.

The rules aren't
complicated, but to get results, you need to stick to them. Consistency is
essential. (If there are children in your home, an adult should do the
socialization procedure.)

Patience is essential too.
This process takes time - but it builds a special close bond with your
new friend!

It's
a richly rewarding experience.

Ó

In his or her new home, the
rescue rat is placed in a small, quiet, secure, uninteresting cage – in other
words, a safe butboring cage. The rat needs one private area he
can retreat to (for example, a cardboard box). Apart from that, the cage should
be unfurnished. You can't get hold of a scared rat if the cage is full of
stuff.

Let him settle in for a
couple of days, without trying to handle him. Talk to him a lot, so that he
learns your voice. Call him and gently rattle the food in its container, each
time you feed him. He gets his regular bland food (plain chow or lab blocks) -
but no treats!

Never feed the rat through
the cage bars.
(Feeding through the bars is a great way to teach him to snap at fingers!)

Ó

If the rat is a male and in
good health, neutering should be done after about one week in his new
home. With aggressive rescue males, neutering is a key step. Aggression levels
will gradually subside during the month following the operation. Neutering
makes integration with other rats less difficult, and it facilitates taming.
(See below for more comments on neutering.)

Ó

After a few days, begin
handling the rat.

Your problem rat may be a
biter. Use a small towel to pick him up. The towel saves your hands, and also
frightens the rat less than your hands do. As a rule the rat will not bite the
towel.

Never use gloves. They only blunt your
sense of touch and tempt you to squeeze too hard. Also they do not enclose the
rat reassuringly the way a towel does.

Try
to avoid invading the rat's private box. Wait for a moment when he's come out of
his box of his own accord. (By now he may come out when you rattle his food
container.) Reach in with the towel. Using the towel, gently block him from
running back into his box. Be gentle but firm. Don't rush, but try not
to let him get clean away - he needs to learn that it doesn't do any good to
fight handling.Gradually
confine him in the towel (use the corners of the cage) and pick him up in it.

Talk softly to him
throughout. (It doesn't matter to the
rat what you say, but repetition of positive comments, "Good boy, lovely ratty,
what a beautiful girl, isn't this nice" etc. will calm youand
improve your own mood and tone of voice.)

Hold the rat in your arms,
partly confined in the towel. Walk slowly around for a brief time - less than a
minute. Keep it brief because the rat will not enjoy the experience at first. In
fact he may act like he is on hot coals! Don't worry, just gently confine him
and walk around a bit. During this time, begin gently "scritching" (imitation
grooming) the rat's neck and shoulders – if he is a biter, do it from behind
with the rat facing away from your hand. Holding him in the towel in
your arms allows him to feel relatively secure. A rat is a burrowing animal, and
when it's frightened, it instinctively wants to feel its body is enclosed as
much as possible.

Keep talking to him!

Don't let anything frighten
him while you are holding him.
No loud noises, no cats, no dogs, etc.

At the end of each short
handling session, offer him a treat. At first he'll be too frightened to
take it. This is normal. Place the rat and the treat back in the cage together.
Draw the rat's attention to the treat. He'll eat it soon enough. Later, as he
gains confidence, he'll take the treat sooner.

Ó

Repeat the above steps as
often as possible – many times a day! Go through them every time you pass the
rat's cage. Keep it simple and consistent. You're earning the rat's trust.

Treats, social grooming, and
a change of scene – these are the rat's rewards for accepting handling.

The time required for
progress varies with the individual rat, so play it by ear. Don't rush things.

After several days, most
rats will become more accustomed to handling. Start walking around for longer
periods with the rat in your arms. Go into different rooms. The rat is
learning that people bring him nice things: treats, scritches, company, and
interesting changes of scene. People are more fun than his boring cage.

Ó

When the rat accepts
handling well, move to the next step. Sit with him in a safe chair. Let him
explore you and the chair. Give treats and scritches frequently throughout the
session. Scritches are as important as treats – especially for single rats.
Rats have a strong instinctive need for social grooming. Repeat frequently. If the
rat becomes too frightened, go back to the earlier stage.

Ó

When trust is well
established, you can start introducing your new rescue to other rats in a
neutral area. Introductions are another topic that can't be properly covered
here. I will only mention a few points. Squabbling and minor cuts are normal at
first. Serious fighting may also occur, and for that reason the rats must be
supervised very closely until they are well integrated. Keep a thick towel
or cushion handy and use it to separate fighting rats. Intact rats (not desexed)
are more likely to have serious fights.

Ó

Some more things to remember
during the socialization period

Don't give the rat treats or
liberty "for free".

This is really important.
Until handling is well accepted, treats should only be given during handling,
and no free running should be allowed.

Let the rat feel as secure
as possible.

For example - carrying an
unsocialized rat on your shoulder is not constructive. This is a very exposed,
insecure place for an untamed rat. And this is not teaching him to accept being
held.

Why all this talking to the
rat? Here's why:

Despite their prominent
eyes, rats have very poor vision compared to ours. A rat can see almost the
whole room at once (including behind and above her) but she can't really "look"
at specific things like we can. Rats get comparatively little information from
their eyes and can't be expected to recognize people by sight. To a rat's eyes,
you're just a giant looming Thing. But she has excellent hearing, and she'll
quickly learn to recognize you by your voice. It's all part of building
trust.

Ó

The role of neutering

Neutering removes the source
of male hormones, which create heightened aggression and superdominance in some
adult males. The change doesn't happen overnight. But normally, after a couple
of weeks, a noticeable change in the rat's responses can be seen. After a month
the difference is dramatic. A formerly tense, excitable, hair-trigger male
becomes happy and relaxed.

Neutering doesn't remove all
aggression, but it greatly reduces it.

Together with socialization,
neutering is a key component of rescue rat welfare. Combined with the
socialization method described above, neutering can potentially transform even
savage adult males - rats who attack the human hand - into peaceful, friendly,
delightful pets. I have personally seen this happen.

Another advantage is that
neutered male and female rescues can be kept together in compatible groups.

Spaying doesn't reduce
female aggression so dramatically - but it can help and it gives excellent protection against
mammary tumors, which unfortunately are very common in rats.

Susan Armstrong

Burnaby, BC

Little Mischief Rescue

anariska@telus.net

Updated November 11, 2005

Note from
Lizzy: Susan's article is aimed more at socializing adult rescue rats, as
that is her area of expertise, however the same methods can be used on any
poorly socialized rat. When working with babies, I would not advocate
isolation, and neither does Susan. Babies should always be kept in same
aged, same sexed pairs as a bare minimum. Susan's methods have been used
successfully to socialize babies housed in groups. Also it is best to wait
until they are 3 to 4 months old, before spaying or neutering your babies.